Removing Baby Oil Stains

by Liz Heather in


Look, I'm half Trinidadian. I have always had baby oil around every house I've lived in and I intend to keep having it around until I perish. Why? I don't know, you find uses for it. It softens up your hair and is less damaging than hot oil treatments, it's great for back rubs, it's amazing for at-home pedicure baths and it's beautiful when integrated in intimate moments, IT DOES IT ALL. Okay? 

And sometimes, it fucks up your fabrics. And apparently no dry cleaner can be bothered with getting an oil stain out. How is that possible when IT'S THEIR JOB? You got me. It's a mystery.

Anyhow, I just bought something new and after one day of wearing it, I got baby oil on it. I looked to the ends of the internet-earth, tried out a few different methods of removing the stain and now I'm here to tell you EXACTLY how to get that stain out if you ever need to.

  1. To remove oil stains from cotton fabric, rub cornstarch over the stain.
  2. Let it sit for 20 minutes and then get an old toothbrush to brush around on the stain until the cornstarch is really ensconced in the fabric.
  3. Go to a sink and wet the area a bit with hot water, then add some dishwashing liquid and rub it onto it with your fingers.
  4. Let that sit for 10-15 minutes and then use hot water and wash off the dishwashing liquid and cornstarch in the sink. I swear to God, when you're washing it off you can FEEL the baby oil coming out of the fabric. It's weird.
  5. Let it dry or you can blow dry it if you're impatient. 
  6. If a stain still appears, repeat the whole process. 

I know that seems like a lot to do, but it works so well. I did this whole thing three times and the stain was completely gone.